You can’t motivate students with technology because technology alone isn’t motivating. Worse yet, students are almost always ambivalent toward digital tools. While you may be completely jazzed by the interactive whiteboard in your classroom or the wiki that you just whipped up, your kids could probably care less.

By Bethany Petty The classrooms of today have the potential to look vastly different than those of the past. Many teachers have access to a vast array of technology tools that can be used in the classroom to increase student engagement.

Sometimes the world of educational technology can seem daunting and extremely overwhelming—especially for newcomers. Use this list of teacher tools to “techify” your lessons one step at a time. Each one has the potential to enhance your classroom biome and get students excited about your content.

A study commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and conducted by the Boston Consulting Group that explores the views of a large number of different stakeholders in the American state sector context. Worth reading.

This unique publication explores the potential benefits, pitfalls, future trends and learning outcomes for 10 hot topics in education, providing you with a warts-and-all view of how they can impact a school and, ultimately, the learning experience of the pupil.

The contributions in this book reflect the diversity of ideas and perspectives that form the core and spirit of Digitally Connected. Some of the reflection pieces are closely connected to issues discussed at the symposium, others reflect more generally on personal observations and/or opinions, or highlight and discuss insights and learnings from specific studies or concrete projects. By making these reflection pieces and the youth work available to the expanding Digitally Connected network as well as the public at large, we hope to continue and further stimulate the global conversation about both the challenges and opportunities children and youth encounter in the digital environment.

Slick Write is a powerful, FREE tool that makes it easy to check your writing for grammar errors, potential stylistic mistakes, and other features of interest. Whether you're a blogger, novelist, SEO professional, or student writing an essay for school, Slick Write can help take your writing to the next level.

With Swipe, your presentation ends up where your students are looking: on their devices, in their hands. Ask questions with polls to see what they know and want to know to guide the pace of your lectures. Swipe promotes a more engaged and smarter classroom, whether physical or online. It’s as easy as sharing a link.

Technologists who have built successful systems in other domains—and who frequently view education as just another market in which to apply their expertise—often doom their project to fail at the start, by adopting a narrow and outdated educational model.

Studies show that the quality of your classroom environment is a significant determinant of student learning. Classrooms that are painted with color, lighted with full-spectrum lighting, and devoid of visual noise result in improved academic performance and decreased disruptive, off-task behavior.

This article presents the results of a survey into student attitudes towards the use of L1 in class and some suggestions for using the L1 and its culture as a learning resource.

Silvana Richardson's insight:

While the first section is not up-to-date in terms of current thinking about the use of the students' L1 in EFL classrooms, the second part of the article- which presents the results of a survey into student attitudes towards the use of L1 in class- is really worth reading.

Persevere past the evangelical tone and the oversimplification in some of the arguments that might tempt you to stop reading before you get to the useful points and you will find really useful information about innovations in Ed Tech.

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Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.